India vs Australia 2nd Test, Day 3: Stats and Reactions

India vs Australia 2nd Test, Day 3 was undoubtedly the day of resistance as both the teams ended up keeping their hopes alive for a victory and produced some nail-biting cricket at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

After bowling the Australians out for 276 in the morning session on a crack-laden pitch, the Indian batting lineup was in for another wicket saving innings as the strip had a lot to offer for the bowlers. KL Rahul again played a match-defining opening stand of 51 runs while Abhinav Mukund (16) was also able to add some runs to his bat. However, when India lost four wickets for just 122 runs before Tea, the ghost of their past again came to haunt them. What made matters worse for the team was the fact that Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane were struggling against the Australian bowlers but it was luck that saved them from losing their wickets.

All that changed in the final session when Australia tried to press hard with Steve Smith rotating his bowlers around, even giving Mitchell Marsh in a three-over spell. However, the two batsmen stood firm and answered every question asked by the pitch and the bowlers. Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane worked on singles, rotated the strike and whenever the opposition game them chances, they didn’t shy away from scoring boundaries.

Pujara (79*) and Rahane (40*) partnered for a 93-runs stand, the biggest in this series, and India didn’t lose a wicket for the first time in a session, also a series-first.

The Day ended up with India being in command at 213/4 by the time of Stumps having a lead of 126 runs over the hosts.

However, Steve Smith also became a show stopper and entered the group of elite fielders with his blinder at the slips that sent KL Rahul back to the pavilion.

Here are the numbers that matter the most from the 3rd day

• KL Rahul became only the third opener to register a 50+ score in both innings of a Test at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Gordon Greenidge and Ajay Jadeja being the other two.
• During his 51-runs stand, KL Rahul completed his 1000 Test runs at the age of 24 years and 322 days, in his 25th innings with the team. He became the third youngest Indian opener to achieve this mark and 19th overall. KL Rahul also has the most number of runs under his belt from either team in this series so far.
• Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane’s unbeaten stand of 93 runs on the third day of the second Test is now the highest partnership for any wicket across both teams in this series.
• Both Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara crossed the 1000-run mark for the ongoing Indian home season. This is only the second time in Indian Cricketing history that two players have managed to score 1000+ runs in a single season, Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid being the first to achieve this feat in the 2003/04 season.
• The final session on Day 3 of the 2nd Test was the first instance in this series when no wicket fell during the course of the two hours of play.

• Ravindra Jadeja registered his 7th five-wicket haul of his Test career, coming at par with the likes of Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Venkatesh Prasad and Shivlal Yadav.

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